Charles Gregory Fairfax 1796 estate history

The owner of Gilling Castle was the eldest son of Charles Gregory Pigott Fairfax and Mary Goodrick: Charles Gregory Fairfax, born in 1796. He married a Roman Catholic, Mary the eldest daughter of Michael Tasburgh of Burghwallis Hall near Doncaster. After being at Brandsby in their early married life, they took up residence in Gilling Castle in 1846. He died without issue in 1871, and the estate passed to his sister Lavinia Barnes. She lived at the Rectory in Gilling until her husband, the Rev. Barnes, died in 1871; she then returned to the castle to live with her brother who was still alive at the time, although she had been allowed to stay in the Rectory until a new Rector was appointed. The parish was for a short time served from Oswaldkirk. E.H. Wilson’s account of Lavinia’s character was that she was refined, intellectual and kindly, calm and of a sweet disposition. However Barbara Charlton, nee Tasburgh, gives rather a different account of her in her diary. To quote: “Neither in youth or age was Lavinia a safe person to ride the waters on. In her day she made terrible mischief up to the day of her death she went on working irreparable harm R.I.P.” By her portrait which now hangs in the entrance hall of the castle she certainly looks a formidable woman. Lavinia Barnes will be remembered for the tablet which she erected at the head of the south aisle in Gilling Church. Here she recorded the principal members of the Gilling branch of the Fairfax family together with dates. She was also instrumental in erecting the altar tomb on which the Fairfax effigies now rest. She also created what is known today as Mrs Barnes’ walk. This starts near the dog kennels and continues along the escarpment to the site of the temple overlooking the lakes. Lavinia died in 1885 and the estate passed to her sister Harriet, who was married to Captain Thomas Charles Cholmely RN of Brandsby Hall. On acquiring the property the name Fairfax was included in the Cholmely name. On his death in 1889 his eldest son Hugh Charles Fairfax Cholmely succeeded. He sold the estate in 1895 to Mr George Wilson, and so ended the Fairfax connection with Gilling Castle after 406 years.